It's Prime time: Amazon's video service now streaming in Australia

Just in time for The Grand Tour

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UPDATE: We've received official word from an Amazon spokesperson:

"We have not launched Amazon Prime in Australia. The service some Australians have signed-up for is the US or UK Prime Membership, which provides free, fast shipping within the US or UK, as well as access to some Amazon Originals, such as The Grand Tour, where we have the global rights."

Modified article below:

Ever since the US streaming giant Netflix arrived on our shores, Australians have been wondering when Amazon’s rival streaming service would also be making its Down Under debut. The answer, it turns out, is right now (sort of)!

Though the local Amazon online store is still exclusively selling ebooks and Kindle readers, Amazon's US and UK sites are now allowing Aussies to subscribe to its Prime service using their Australian accounts and credit card details.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the service was expected to arrive in Australia in December. While it hasn't officially launched here yet, partial access was granted overnight, just in time for tomorrow's launch of The Grand Tour, the highly-anticipated new series from Top Gear alums Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.

At present, the Amazon Prime Video app has not been made available in Australia on either the App Store or Google Play store, so the only way to watch Amazon’s video content is through a computer browser window. That said, it does seem likely that the retail giant will officially launch its service in Australia very soon.

To sign up for a Prime membership, head over to Amazon’s Prime page to start a 30-day free trial of the service. Once the trial period is over, the membership will begin charging US$10.99 per month to your Amazon account.